Hollywood godfather : the life and crimes of Billy Wilkerson / W.R. Wilkerson III.
Material type: TextPublisher: Chicago, Illinois : Chicago Review Press, [2018]Description: 342 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cmISBN:- 9781613736609
- 1613736606
Item type | Current library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book | Phillipsburg Free Public Library | Adult Non-Fiction | Adult Non-Fiction | 070.092 WIL | Available | 36748002442103 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Billy Wilkerson was the most powerful man in Hollywood during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s. He was owner and publisher of the Hollywood Reporter, the film industry newspaper that became known as "Hollywood's bible," and he built the Café Trocadero and other legendary nightspots of the Sunset Strip. In thirty years as Tinseltown's premier behind-the-scenes power broker, Wilkerson introduced Clark Gable and Lana Turner to the world, brought the Mafia to Hollywood, engineered the shakedown of the Hollywood studios by Willie Bioff and his mob-run unions, helped invent Las Vegas, tangled with Bugsy Siegel (and possibly was involved with his murder), touched off the Hollywood blacklist, and conspired to cripple the studio system.
Perhaps nobody in Hollywood history has ever ruined so many careers or done so much to reshape the movie industry as Billy Wilkerson, yet there has never been a solid biography of the man. Billy's son, William R. Wilkerson III, has done tremendous research on his father, interviewing over decades everyone who knew him best, and portrays him beautifully--and damningly--in this book.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 315-328) and index.
"The first full biography of Billy Wilkerson, the owner and publisher of the Hollywood reporter and Tinseltown's premier behind-the-scenes power broker during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s"-- Provided by publisher.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Preface: Discovering My Father (p. 1)
- 1 The Corpse (p. 13)
- 2 Rosebud (p. 18)
- 3 Lubinville (p. 26)
- 4 The Crash (p. 50)
- 5 Life in the West (p. 55)
- 6 The Bet (p. 64)
- 7 Vendôme (p. 71)
- 8 The Cut (p. 75)
- 9 Café Trocadero (p. 81)
- 10 The Shakedown (p. 90)
- 11 The Breakup (p. 96)
- 12 Sunday Night at the Troc (p. 103)
- 13 The Gambler (p. 110)
- 14 Hollywood's Bible (p. 116)
- 15 The London Reporter to Sunset House (p. 121)
- 16 Daily Life at the Reporter (p. 130)
- 17 Friends and Allies (p. 138)
- 18 The Starmaker and Lana Turner (p. 151)
- 19 "He'll Bring Us All Down" (p. 157)
- 20 Women and Marriage (p. 164)
- 21 Joe Schenck and the Arrowhead Springs Hotel (p. 168)
- 22 Ciro's (p. 175)
- 23 Trials (p. 180)
- 24 Restaurant LaRue (p. 186)
- 25 The Flamingo (p. 193)
- 26 Bugsy Siegel (p. 206)
- 27 The Crusade (p. 214)
- 28 Exile (p. 227)
- 29 The Blacklist (p. 245)
- 30 L'Aiglon (p. 250)
- 31 United States v. Paramount Pictures (p. 254)
- 32 "That Was Who He Was" (p. 259)
- 33 Club LaRue (p. 265)
- 34 The Next Chapter (p. 270)
- 35 The Partnership (p. 274)
- 36 The Shadow (p. 280)
- 37 The Old Days (p. 290)
- 38 Curtain Call (p. 298)
- Acknowledgments (p. 309)
- Appendix: Billy Wilkerson's Businesses (p. 311)
- Notes (p. 315)
- Selected Bibliography (p. 325)
- Index (p. 329)